For a substantial part of human history, knives have been an essential device used in our everyday lives. Whether used as a weapon, tool, food preparation utensil, or other application, knives generally include the same defining feature: a sharpened blade.
The sharpened blade allows the knife to pierce, slice, trim, and otherwise cut a target object. Unfortunately, the sharpened blade also presents a potential hazard to a user if the knife is mishandled. As a result, protective devices and features have been created to address the potential danger of handling knives.
Developed substantially before the formation of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, knife sheaths have been used to allow a user to store or carry a knife with a substantially reduced risk of being injured by the sharpened blade of the knife. Although the knife sheath can provide some protection from the sharpened blade, the knife must be actively placed in the sheath for the sheath to be effective. Additionally, one could lose the sheath, and therefore be required to find a replacement sheath or permanently expose themselves to potential injury.
To overcome the limitations inherent to the sheath, some inventors have created systems of knife guards attached to the knife structure itself. U.S. Pat. No. 5,478,346 to Capewell, discloses a scalpel having a guard member that is connected to the handle of the scalpel and covers the blade of the scalpel. The guard member of the Capewell '346 patent is connected to the scalpel handle so that as the guard member pivots away from the scalpel blade, towards the handle. U.S. Pat. No. 5,250,064 to Schnider discloses a guard for a surgical scalpel, which includes an engagement portion to pivotally move the guard upward away from the scalpel blade and towards the scalpel handle. However, the guard of the Schnider et al. '064 patent is connected to the handle of the scalpel, and not the blade itself. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,980,977 to Martin, et al., discloses a cutting knife for cutting honey comb core and other materials. The cutting knife disclosed in the Martin et al. '977 patent includes a blade guard that is pivotally connected to the blade using a fastener that is passed through outer body portions of the guard and through the blade itself. However, the connection between the guard and the handle in the cutting tool of the Martin et al. '977 patent is overly complicated. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 365,714 to Warner, discloses a knife having a blade guard pivotally connected to a portion of the handle and, presumably, connected to the blade itself. Again, this blade guard pivots upwardly away from the blade and towards the handle.
Although the knife guards disclosed in the cited references provide a means to cover a knife blade, the cited references do so via a guard attached on the near the base of the knife. Attaching the guard to the knife near the position where the blade interfaces with the base may render the knife cumbersome in operation. In other applications, attaching a guard at this aforementioned location may require an overly complicated design, which interferes with simplicity of use inherent to a knife.
There exists a need for a knife that provides an ability to guard the sharpened edge of the blade when not in use, while easily exposing the sharpened edge of the blade when its use is required, and without requiring the burden of an excessively complex or cumbersome design.